I definitely grew up with the idea that if I was just smart or talented enough, I would be discovered by the universe and swept away into my own personal success story. I didn't realize that I needed to keep working and developing my personal brand and building my skills on my own.

I never learned how to think strategically about what my own life goals were, or how to achieve them. I spent my whole life responding to whatever goals my school set for me, scrambling in a panic and just trying to survive.

Between my family's abuse and the bullying I experienced at school, from my teachers as well as from other students, I feel I've spent the entire rst of my life trying to recover from my early childhood. I've struggled to escape from the dangerous and punitive cycle that school trapped me in. I've continued working for universities for low wages with low respect because of this cycle.

It's been rough trying to escape what society has told me I am, and fundamentally, the only way to be successful in this life is by insisting your vision of yourself is more true than anyone else'.